Place to Grow
by TheShadows911
Summary: A sudden natural disaster tears the Leaf village apart, but permanently link's three soul's together. Lee teaches Gaara the importance of family in the recent budding peace, and how even though the next generation is formed, their lives are not yet over, they still have plenty of time to fall in love. Short/Sweet summery R&R
1. Chapter 1

Lee was blown off his feet during his during daily commute, a huge gust of smoke, dust and wind whipping through the main path of the Leaf village, which in recent years had become a place of innovation and modern society. Screams shattered the previous happy chatter of civilians as the ground shook profusely, left and right glass windows was smashed, market stalls fell, and chaos followed.

Suddenly, a huge sound, loud enough to puncture eardrums echoed through the streets. The nice new skyscrapers that served as landmarks of triumph crashed to the ground one by one, the building supports crippled under the strain, allowing no hope for the poor souls left inside.

Lee stood, almost being knocked back down by panicked running pedestrians falling into him. His trained instincts kicking in as a building beside him began to crumble, he ran to the danger, fear not halting his movements for a second. Opening a few chakra gates he stood at the entrance of the building, holding it up, becoming a support beam as a few lucky people ran to safety, one being a mother and child.

The sight caused Lee to waver, executing a poor getaway, ending up with the full force of a house smashing down on a limb. An ungodly wail followed. His ankle was crushed, shattered to pieces and twisted. He crawled from the rubble, removing his leg weights and wrapping the broken bones tightly in bandages that he had gathered from his wrists.

He breathed deeply, wobbling to his feet. He couldn't stop now, one thing on his mind, he had to make sure his most precious person was safe.

* * *

"Shit," Naruto cursed, scratching at his short blonde hair in aggravation. "I'm lucky you happened to visit, the building almost fell on top of me."

Gaara hissed, the debris having cut up his nice new suit. "It's fine," He had managed to hold up the roof with his sand, thankfully the majority of people had evacuated before anyone got hurt. He and Naruto walked out to the destroyed streets of Konaha, finding Sasuke outside ready to give a damage report.

Naruto sighed, rubbing harshly at his temple as Sasuke ran down the list of casualty's. "Fine, go and search the perimeter," Naruto ordered, watching as Sasuke saluted and then hopped off into the distance. "Gaara."

"Hn?" His attention caught.

"I need you to help out a little, go save some people or something, be all heroic and stuff! K'?" Naruto flashed a thumbs-up and a grin, running off into the distance.

Gaara only huffed, _he gets to play ninja and I'm left behind to tidy up, great._ Sighing he began lifting structures that might have Leaf citizens underneath, then clearing the streets. Suddenly a woman came to his side, her pink hair a mess from stress.

"Kazekage!"

Like most people she called Gaara by his job title, not by respect but by out of habit. She pointed furiously to a large building, informing him that it was once a school, and that there could be children underneath. He walked over casually, not allowing panic to obstruct his thoughts and actions. Slinking his sand under the destroyed construction, he raised it as slowly and as delicately as he could, he didn't want it toppling back onto the Leaf's next generation, Naruto, or this women would have his head. As a sizable gap was formed an odd sight was soon beheld, there were bugs everywhere, but they had shielded the children that were inside.

"Shino!" Sakura gasped joyfully, running to aid him and the children.

Gaara held up the construction until they were all free, not gaining one word of thanks once they were clear. He shrugged, knowing full well he was doing the dirty work and begun to lower the concrete once more, until something caught his ear. An odd gurgling sound coming from the rubble, he raised back it up, walking under until he located the sound. In a shaded area, a small amount of insects had remained to protect what Gaara first thought was an animal, but found it to be a small child.

He brushed the dust and bugs away, finding an innocent child. "Hn," He poked its rosy cheeks and caused it to giggle and gurgle. "You're lucky; I almost dropped this whole house on top of you," Yje child didn't show fear though, it just laughed and reached out, twisting it's little hands in a grabbing motion. Gaara did as it pleased, lifting it by its underarms. "Now, where are your parents?" It was useless, the child was a mere toddler, it didn't have the language skills to provide an answer. He began to look for clues, reaching into the child's green overall pockets, looking for labels with names on them, but nothing, no nametag, no birth certificate, not even a collar. Gaara was at a loss, until he spotted that unmistakable black bowl-cut hairdo. "Oh, I know _exactly_ who your father is."

"Papa!" The baby chirped.

"Well," Gaara stood, holding the child against his chest. "At least you know one word." The only problem was that the child just kept repeating that one word, now he needed to figure out how to shut it up. It squirmed and wriggled in his arms, leading to Gaara almost dropping the child several times, luckily his quick reflexes allowed him to grab the child by the legs. Gaara began to look around, seeing that people were evacuating to the seven Hokage mountain faces, he decided to make his way there, someone must be willing to take care of this annoying runt for a few minutes at least

* * *

Sasuke did a perimeter search but there was nothing in sight, it seemed as it the whole thing was a natural disaster. He managed to track down his reckless Hokage. "Naruto!" He called, catching the blonde's attention amidst the forestation.

Naruto stopped running, taking perch on a tree branch. "Yeah?" He asked.

"The whole things a natural disaster, my guess is the new buildings couldn't take the strain from the tremors." Sasuke brushed his dark hair from his eyes, finding Naruto was unusually displeased with this news.

"What?" Naruto groaned. "But I wanted to fight some bad guys!"

Sasuke pinched at the bridge of his nose, Naruto was still an idiot. "Surely this is good news?" He explained, Sasuke felt like he was needing to explain things to Naruto on a daily basis, but Naruto was too obnoxious, still not yet matured, thank heavens Kakashi was still in power.

"Yeah, but like nothing has happened in so long!" Naruto moaned, crossing his arms in a tantrum, but seeing how furious Sasuke was he decided to change the subject. "Whatever, just go make yourself useful somewhere Sasuke, I think I see Lee down there." He chuckled and hopped off before Sasuke could yet again give him a boring lecture on leadership, Sasuke could be so cynical sometimes.

Lee dropped to his knees unable to walk much further, looking after his little child had given him barely any time to continue to train or work out, he wasn't at full strength, and the pain from his foot was overriding all senses. In desperation tears began to fall, clutching the dust on the ground harshly, he had failed his son.

Naruto jumped down to Lee, not realising the man's turmoil. "Wussup' bushy brow? You okay?" He asked un-sympathetically.

Naruto's crude, taunting words spiked Lee's anger. "No! I am certainly not okay!" He spat.

Naruto was taken off guard; he knelt down, leaving a supportive hand on Lee's shoulder. "Lee, what's wrong?" He could see Lee was in pain, both physically and mentally.

Lee didn't want to admit defeat or weakness, but Naruto was his only hope right now, he trusted Naruto. "My son, I can't find him anywhere! I-I've looked at all the survivor tents; his name is not on the lists! I don't know what I'm going to do!" Lee was beside himself with fear, that little boy was his life, if anything had happened to him-Lee couldn't even stomach the thought.

Naruto's heart was clenched with concern. "Where did you leave him?" He asked formally, he needed the information out of Lee.

"At the nursery centre, in the same building at the ninja school, I couldn't get there because of my leg." Lee grumbled, his eye's glancing down at his twisted foot, forsaking it.

"C'mon then," Naruto hooked Lee's arms around his shoulders, lifting the green-clad man by the waist. "Let's go find him!"

Lee was astonished, Naruto radiated optimism. "B-But you're Hokage! Shouldn't you be-"

"I got Sasuke doing all that stuff," Naruto waved off Lee's question, beginning to walk in a slow fashion. "Besides, finding that kid is all that I'm concerned about now." He gave Lee a hearty grin, raising the man's spirits.

Lee starred, and then smiled humbly. Naruto was a true saviour. "I can't thank you enough." Lee muttered, it was true, if anything Naruto managed to cease Lee's panic.

"Don't worry about it, so how is the little kid doing?" Naruto laughed, trying to get Lee's static mind on more positive things.

"Good," Lee smiled widely. "It was actually his first day at nursery today." Lee chuckled weakly, he hoped his son was too young to understand what was going on, and wasn't scared from school for life.

* * *

Gaara sat, locked in a stone cavern crowded with loud and annoying foreign strangers, he was not amused. Once entering The Leaf's 'safe zone' within the seven Hokage faces cliff he was refused exit by Sasuke, the black haired man argued that the child Gaara had found needed to be taken care of, and Gaara was assumed the position on temporary parent. Though Gaara did not like his new job, he did not argue as it was nothing against Sasuke's job of recognising the ID of incoming corpses.

So he sat in the cold and dark, keeping a tight hold of the still wriggling child. Gaara knew that the child was defiantly Lee's, that hair, those eyes, the child was almost a clone, it caused Gaara to question whether the mother's genetics had any chance of overriding Lee's odd gene's, little if any it seemed. The child gurgled and giggled as Gaara struggled to keep a hold of its little limbs, he decided to let loose his sand and entertain the child that way, creating shapes and sandcastles for it to play in.

He closed his eyes for a second, a mere second and the arrogant child began to eat it. "Hey," He took the child by the wrists, wiping the sand off. "You can't eat it." He stuffed the sand safely back into his gourd, and for reasons that Gaara could not understand the child began to cry. "Shit." He cursed, the child wailed and screamed, drawing a fair amount of attention. He tried to take a hold of the child but it struggled, unable to use force he panicked to think of a way to silence the child without doing it permanently. Just as he was about to give-in a woman appeared by his side, salvation. She was not of origin in the Leaf, her dark skin mirrored that of her child, but the child was quite chubby unlike her hour-glass figure.

"He's probably hungry." She spoke, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a jar and a little plastic spoon.

Gaara took the object and opened the top; it looked putrid, ground down food, it looked worse than slop. "Prisoner's get better food then this." It was the truth, but the child seemed to respond. Gaara continued to take a spoonful of the food and motion it to the little child's mouth, and the child ate it.

The women chuckled, this was a sight to behold, Gaara of the sand and caring for a feeble, innocent child that she assumed was not his own. "What's his name?" She ruffled the happy child's black hair.

"I do not know, it owns no ID." Gaara admitted, though he could imagine it was something spontaneous. The women soon walked away when Gaara offered no valuable conversation to indulge in, Gaara was fine with that though, and he preferred remaining solitary. He continued to feed the young child his food, occasionally glancing around when new people entered the vicinity, and finally the man he was looking for entered.

Lee hobbled in, he had spent the past two hours searching every survivor camp in the Leaf village and this was the last place, if his son wasn't here, then he could only imagine the worst. Weaving through the masses of injured he searched for a familiar face, anyone that could give him salvation, but his eyes were weary, blurred from the pain of holding back too many tears. Suddenly he got a pat on his shoulder, Lee spun round, meeting face-to-face with the matured, flat-haired Gaara, and a smile broke out. "Oh, good evening Gaara-san, it's been a while since I last met you." In truth it had, they were no longer spry teens full of youth.

"Indeed," Gaara huffed. "And just Gaara is fine." He corrected Lee, but polite manners were in the taijutsu ninja's blood. Before Lee was able to chat away his ear Gaara interrupted, raising the little boy in his arms to Lee's eye level. "I believe you misplaced this." He said nonchalantly, and watched Lee's face crumble.

"Oh my!-" Lee gasped, unable to finish his joyous outburst as he took the young boy into his arm's tightly, tears finally rolling down his cheeks. "Thank goodness you're safe!" Lee's heart exploded, for a while he feared his son's life; it was serene bliss to be cradling his child once more.

"Papa!" The boy chirped.

Lee looked up to Gaara. "Where did you find him?" He questioned, trying to wipe away his frantic tears.

"Under a building," Gaara replied bluntly, witnessing Lee turn blue with horror. "You should be careful with where you leave it." Once again Gaara failed to correctly recognise the child as a human; it was just too squishy looking.

Lee chuckled nervously, scratching at his neck,_ Is Gaara giving me parenting lessons?_ "Ah, y-yes well, I'll try being more careful," He subsided, before becoming serious. "I don't think I can thank you enough for what you did, I owe you everything."

Gaara flinched as Lee bowed slightly. "No I-"

"You saved my son!" Lee stepped forward, swinging his arm around Gaara's neck and forcing him into embrace.

Gaara went rigid as Lee cried over his shoulder, the child held in between their chests. "It's fine." Gaara huffed; placing his hands on Lee's back, trying to calm the man's obsessive mumbling and wailing.

Finally Lee separated, wiping his wet cheeks once more. "I will re-pay you, I'm not sure how…" He raised a smile. "But I will."

Gaara mentally rolled his eyes, why was this man so persistent? "If that's what you wish." Gaara wasn't going to stop him from doing so, though he couldn't think of a way of which anyone could re-pay someone for saving another's life, nothing is of equal value of a human soul as the saying goes. Though little did Gaara know that this was a benchmark on his life, he would be repaid in a far greater way than he imagined.

* * *

**Authors Note: Gosh it's so nice to write a GaaraxLee story with them IN character *I hope XD*. OMG writing Gaara with that kid is just the cutest thing ever, he has no clue what he's doing! BTW this story is gonna be rated T for mild swears, and possible Lemon? Not sure yet, but Lemon always somehow winds up in my GaaraxLee stories, so I wouldn't doubt it turning up somewhere! R&amp;R for faster updates, otherwise other projects will be prioritized. XD**


	2. Chapter 2

It had been three weeks since the earthquake incident; the Leaf had begun re-building after spending enough time grieving for the dead. Lee thanked his lucky stars that everyone precious in his life came out unharmed, although he struggled with his broken foot. He became frustrated when he was unable to help with the construction efforts; on the upside he was able to spend much more time with his little boy, but it was difficult to juggle a baby in one arm and a walking crutch in the other. He needed time-out, as much as Lee loved his son, every parent needs just a few hours of peace, and luckily salvation came knocking at the door.

"Hello?" Tenten let herself in, finding the racket of a child's wails and screams. She wandered into the lounge. "Lee?"

"Tenten!" Lee jumped from his chair, letting his child yell louder when he stopped rocking the cot.

"Lee! You-Oh my gosh, you look awful!" Tenten had always had a sharp tongue; the truth was never hidden in her words. Lee was pale, dark shadows under his eyes and his hair a mess, not from exhaustion but from stress.

Lee flinched, of course he was not presentable, and he self-consciously dusted himself off. "Yes, well, I've been struggling a little with him." Lee stepped back, rocking his child's cot slowly, trying to calm him.

"Oh Lee…" Tenten sighed, "Y'know that if you ever have any trouble you should tell me," She placed a light hand on his shoulder. "I'm happy to help." Tenten couldn't doubt the fact that Lee was a excellent father figure, he always had been, and could never question his ability to care for his son, but being a single parent was tough on anyone.

"I know," Lee scratched at the back on his neck, truth be told he didn't want to bother Tenten with his trouble, because his son would never be a burden. "Don't worry I will tell you, I'm doing fine, honestly!"

Tenten placed a hand to her hip, scolding Lee with her eyes, "Right," She walked over, picking the child from his cradle, "I'll look after him today, you go out and do what you want, and you can pick him back up this afternoon."

Lee held out his hands, trying to stop Tenten, "Wait! Y-you don't have too, I told you I'm perfectly fine."

Tenten huffed, walking out the door. "Doesn't matter, I'm not doing anything today so you can have the day off."

Lee stood at the doorway, his heart in his chest full of admiration for Tenten's instincts. His emotions bubbling at the surface, bowing. "Thank you!" He quickly stepped forward and gave his child a little cuddle. "Don't put him near any of your weapons, please."

Tenten laughed, "I'm not an idiot, Lee," She poked at his chest. "I have plenty of blunt weapons for him to play with."

That was not reassuring, but Lee would trust Tenten with his own life, so he trusted her with his son's too. He waved his precious boy off and closed the door, sliding his back down the wood surface until he hit the floor. Sighing, finally, some silence. He jumped to his feet; Lee wasn't the one to waste the day away. Grabbing his crutch and some cash he left the warm solitude, because it was in fact winter, cold air whipping through the previous warm streets. He needed to buy some warm clothing for his son, and now was the time.

* * *

Gaara pulled a much needed scarf up to cover his mouth with his slowly numbing fingers, wishing that his ears could also go numb because Temari was chattering away beside him. He addressed her, "You seem unusually…" He searched for the right word for a moment, "Exuberant today, sister. Is it per chance that you are meeting with a certain shadow ninja?" Gaara wasn't one to taunt, but his humour had always been cunningly sadistic.

Temari huffed, dismissing his enquiry altogether. Never would she lower herself to a common housewife, she was a warrior, a lone wolf. "Silence yourself Gaara, I'm here as your escort, nothing more."

She was brainwashing herself, but Gaara couldn't blame her, she had an all too extreme independent nature. At least she was helping his mind from the cold, he was too used to the stunning heat of Suna, this was something he could describe as a weakness, it was almost debilitating. "I'm going to make my way to the Hokage's office; I'll assume you won't be leaving anytime soon."

Temari hissed, her two ponytails bobbing as she shook with frustration, "Screw you."

Her temper was also frail; then again, they both were similar in that aspect, although Gaara refrained from lashing out. He continued on his path to the Hokage's office, entering the warmth of the reconstructed building and making his way to the office, where unexpectedly the noble Sasuke stood.

"Kazekage Gaara." He bowed as far as his dignity would allow, which wasn't that far subsequently.

Gaara already knew what this meant, that good for nothing blonde ninja was slacking off. "Naruto."

"On important duties, sir."

"Kakashi?"

"Also-"

Gaara fumed, releasing an armada of sand and lifting the desk, revealing a hidden Naruto and a captive Kakashi.

Naruto quivered under Gaara's gaze, but acted innocent, "Err- Hi Gaara, how's it going?"

Kakashi stood, straightening his clothes and his ever-greying hair. "Let me just digress, I never intended to hide, that was all Naruto's idea."

"You ass! How could you sell me out Kakashi sensei?!" Naruto asked, his voice pained, "Sasuke, you can vouch for me, can't you?"

Saskue removed himself, standing in the doorway only to state, "I'm not allowing myself to get involved anymore; you hid from the Kazekage in plain sight." Then leaving.

Naruto fumed, "You're both sell out's! Un-loyal, un-grateful-"

"Naruto," Gaara's tone struck through the chaos like thunder, forming an aura colder than the outside frost. "Do you have my report?"

Naruto twitched under the pressure, but covered his fear; walking fast paced to Gaara and spinning the red head around, moving him out the room skilfully. "Finishing it off just gotta' do some signin' and stampin' and what-not, lots of work and I'll be done soon the more you stick around the longer it'll take. So stay here, find a place, stay a day, two or three, hell, stay for Christmas, see the sights, live a little, k'? It was great seeing you, bye!"

**_-Slam!_** A door slammed in Gaara's face.

"Well that was abrupt, Y'know if you don't get that report done, he will kill you." Kakashi rubbed at his neck, knowing full well he might get the brunt of Gaara's anger too.

"I know, he really needs to relax though, hopefully a few days around the Leaf will calm him down." Naruto rubbed at his temples while collapsing into his thankfully un-touched chair.

"Should we call him back to collect his sand?"

"No way," Naruto shook his head, "Just call Sasuke, he'll do it."

Kakashi sighed, "Somehow I doubt that."

* * *

Lee shivered slightly, wishing he could rub his hands together but one was holding his crutch, letting go would leave him on the cold floor thanks to his tortured ankle. Instead he turned his mind to other things; winter also mean the holiday of all holidays; Christmas. Lee could admit, he wasn't strictly a christian, but he had always been festive around this time of year, he felt more family oriented, and what better time to celebrate then with a new addition to his little family? He wanted to show his little boy the wonder and joy of Christmas. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a flash of blood red. "Gaara?" He questioned, ultimately grabbing the Kazekage's attention.

Gaara stood for an awkwardly long amount of time as Lee hobbled over, but never ceased his approach. Gaara felt his heart hammer as Lee pulled into a one-armed embrace, it was brief, barely a hug, but it was unneeded content, although Gaara had to admit he admired Lee's body warmth.

"How are you doing Gaara-san? -Oh! Sorry I forgot," Lee chuckled nervously, "Just _Gaara_."

Gaara sighed, feeling slightly stressed after his morning call to Naruto. "I'm fine. I was just going to find a place to eat."

"Yosh!" Lee beamed, causing Gaara to jolt. "Come, Gaara!" He took Gaara wrist tugging him forward best he could before having to swap to his crutch. "Do you like spicy food?"

"I don't mind." Admittedly Gaara's taste was more meat influenced, beef, steak, anything that was previously alive was preferred.

"Great," Lee chirped, "I know a great little place that serves the best curry, it's my treat."

Gaara blinked, unsure how to control Lee's enthusiasm, "It's perfectly fine, I can pay for myself-"

"No, no, I'll pay, it's the least I can do for what you did for me." Lee waved Gaara off, humbled by Gaara's independence, but Lee's generosity was much stronger.

For a moment Gaara drew a blank, but he remembered eventually. "Oh yes, that little squirt. How is it?"

Lee chuckled once more, _"He_ is fine, thank you," He had noticed Gaara's tendency to call his child by 'it' rather than a gender type. Lee wasn't offended by it, he found it rather humorous, plus it was rather open-minded that Gaara didn't see people in their typical gender-stereotypes, Lee liked it. "He's being looked after by Tenten tonight, I was going Christmas shopping, but I can leave it for a little while."

"Oh," Gaara slowed his pace; he couldn't understand why this man would sacrifice his time, just for a dinner, _with me? Surely not_. "Well, we could do this at a more appropriate time. I'd rather not interrupt your day."

Lee stopped, allowing Gaara to stroll to his side. "I know," Forming a smile, in truth Lee would much enjoy Gaara's company, although he couldn't admit it yet. His free time was rather scarce since his son was born; all his friends were so supportive, but still it was quite lonely. "I'd rather spend a little of my time venting, I honestly don't mind, besides! We're here already!" He just prayed that Gaara didn't find him annoying.

Gaara glanced up at a building that could be described as much less than a shack. He was dragged inside to what he questioned to be a barely sanitary eating accommodation. Watching closely as Lee stammered in and greeted the caterers before taking a seat. Before Gaara could even look at the menu a plate was thrust before him, the stench causing his nose to coil and his eyes to sting. He coughed slightly, staring into the all-too-black, _but not burnt?-_Food. "Is it advisable to have a drink with this kind of meal?" _Or an ambulance on hand._

"You can if you want," Lee swapped his chopsticks for a spoon, "But it doesn't do much good." He laughed, although probably causing Gaara to regret his decision to eat here. He decided to change the topic, "Gaara," Catching the redhead's attention, "You seem a little stressed, is everything alright?"

_Shit_, Gaara mentally cursed. _Are my emotions that physical?_ Lee of course wasn't far from the mark, but it wasn't stress, more like his mind was a little pre-occupied. Gaara's tongue hung as he attempted to explain, but Lee cut in just before Gaara was able to utter a single word.

"Try not to be too concerned about Naruto. He might act immature but truly he's doing a great job of protecting our home." Lee explained whole-heartedly in-between eating.

Lee's dedication to ease Gaara's troubles were on a psychic level, but Gaara failed to ask how Lee knew the root of the problem, instead he drew a smile to his face, humbled by Lee's selfless nature. "Thank you." He muttered, looking up to find Lee's face an abundance of red, "Lee?"

"Mmm-?" He hummed with food in mouth, but also clutching to his clothing beneath the table to quell his unnatural tremors.

"Do you have a fever?" Gaara questioned, watching Lee's face flare was slightly amusing.

"Hmn?" Lee raised a hand to his cheek, his skin was scorching hot. _Youth, did Gaara's smile do this? _Lee internally panicked, confused by his own anatomy. He brushed it off, "Oh! Don't worry; it's only the heat from the food." He chuckled.

Gaara calmly reached into his jacket, pulling out a flask and pouring Lee a drink into the lid. "You should at least have something with that type of food," Gaara passed over a small metal cup filled with liquid, "Here."

Lee took it with both hands, trying to hide his shaking. He mumbled a "Thank you," And took a sip, but choked as it slivered down his throat. "W-What is this?" He coughed, before realising in horror, "I-Is this sake?!"

"Indeed," Gaara slipped the drink back into his breast pocket, "What's the matter, don't you like it?"

"N-No that's not the problem." Lee stammered, already feeling woozy.

Gaara watched Lee's pupils dilate; he suddenly mentally questioned how strong his sake was.

"I'm not-_Hic!-_very good, a-at holding…_Hic!_-M-My drink." Lee felt his cheeks set afire once more, this time due to alcohol coursing through his veins.

"You should've told me." Gaara admitted an undertone of concern.

"W-Why do you even-_Hic!_-c-carry around that stuff anyways?"

Gaara grumbled, "To ease stress." A few moments of ironic silence passed between them before Lee addressed him once more, but Lee was in too much of a drunken haze to even give the Kazekage a telling off.

"Gaara," Lee's tone lowered, "I can't remember where I live."


End file.
